1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a running mower comprising a vertically movable rotary mowing unit that includes a laterally spaced pair of rotary mowing blades.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, this kind of running mower includes a traveling body supported by front wheels and rear wheels. The traveling body is provided, between the front wheels and the rear wheels, with a vertically movable rotary mowing unit that includes rotary mowing blades (Refer to JP A 9-09757).
The rotary mowing unit of the conventional running mower includes three rotary mowing blades disposed in a substantially triangular arrangement. The rotary mowing blades rotate in the same direction to mow grass that is thrown sideward from the rotary mowing unit. This structure makes the mower considerably large.
Recently, a rotary mowing unit is known which includes a laterally spaced pair of mowing blades that rotate inwardly toward each other in the moving direction of the traveling body. The mowing blades mow grass and discharge the mown grass through an outlet duct extending backward between the mowing blades from the upside of a housing covering the mowing blades.
However, according to the above structure, the height of the outlet duct extending backward from the upside of the housing of the rotary mowing unit cannot be increased between the mowing blades due to obstruction by a transmission shaft connecting an engine to the rotary mowing unit. Thus, there is a problem that mown grass is not smoothly guided into the outlet duct, whereby the mown grass may clog up the housing and the outlet duct.
Due to the outlet duct extending backward from the rotary mowing unit between the rear wheels, the running transmission for the rear wheels should be disposed above the outlet duct. The running transmission needs to be disposed at a raised position for providing a predetermined height of the outlet duct. Thus, the power transmission shaft for transmitting power from the engine at the front part of the traveling body to the running transmission protrudes from the floor between the steering wheel and the operator seat of the traveling body as much as the running transmission is raised, consequently posing an obstacle for the operator in getting on and off the traveling body.
A technical object of the present invention is to provide a running mower which solves the above-described problems.